80 Golden Lions 31 Western Province 31
80 PENALTY, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN! 31-31. Coleman holds his nerve to land the three-pointer after Tian Meyer is pinned for a ruck infringement! The place-kick is also the final act of the half and the sides have to be satisfied with the draw. Probably a fair result as WP dominated the first half and the Lions the second, but both sides would have wanted the win, no doubt.
79 WP are throwing everything into their attack, in an attempt to regain the lead! De Allende and De Jongh carry strongly but the Lions hold their defensive lines!
76 The visitors go on the drive from a line-out but the Lions do well to keep them at bay. Wp then have a crack at the home side’s line with pick-up-and-goes from their forwards and Gerbrand Grobler is held up when he makes a dash for the line!
74 WP opt to kick the ball out on the Lions’ five-metre line when Kriel is pinned for breaking away early from a scrum.
70 CONVERSION, GOLDEN LIONS, BOSHOFF! 31-28. Boshoff adds another two-pointer to extend the hosts’ lead!
69 TRY, GOLDEN LIONS, MINNIE! 29-28. Minnie barges through tackles from De Allende and Ntubeni before scoring his side’s fourth try!
68 The Lions attack close to WP’s try-line but Jantjies and Robbie Coetzee are both stopped in their tracks by desperate tackling!
64 CONVERSION, GOLDEN LIONS, BOSHOFF. 24-28. Boshoff adds the easy two-pointer to narrow the gap to four points!
63 TRY, GOLDEN LIONS, JANTJIES! 22-28. Jaco Kriel does brilliantly when he breaks out from deep inside his 22. He is hauled in by Aplon, just outside WP’s 22, but the ball is spun wide where Elton Jantjies sells WP’s cover defence a neat dummy before scoring under the posts!
62 WP attack deep inside the Lions’ 22 but Fourie is penalised for holding onto the ball on the ground. Boshoff kicks for touch and puts the ball out on his own 10-metre line.
60 The Lions attack from a line-out but the referee calls them back for a crooked throw from Willie Wepener.
57 Fourie and Cilliers are penalised for side-entry at a maul. Boshoff kicks for touch and puts the ball out on WP’s five-metre line.
54 Michael Rhodes is pinned for going off his feet at a ruck and Jantjies puts the resulting penalty out inside WP’s 22.
52 PENALTY, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN! 17-28. Coleman adds another three-pointer after Minnie is pinned for playing the ball on the ground.
48 YELLOW CARD, WESTERN PROVINCE, DE ALLENDE! De Allende is sent to the sin bin for his indiscretion and the visitors will play the next 10 minutes with 14 men!
48 CONVERSION, GOLDEN LIONS, BOSHOFF. 17-25. Boshoff adds the extras to narrow the gap to eight points!
47 TRY, GOLDEN LIONS, PENALTY TRY! 15-25. The Lions spread the ball wide with their backs and Boshoff steps inside of Kolbe, close to WP’s try-line, but De Allende adjudged by the TMO to have prevented him from scoring a try by knocking the ball from his grasp.
45 Boshoff gathers a kick from Groom, 15 metres inside his half, and returns with a kick of his own which is too long and rolls over the dead-ball line.
43 WP attack close to the halfway mark and Carr offloads in the tackle to Scarra Ntubeni, who knocks on. The Lions regather and Guy Cronje is soon in the clear and setting off towards the visitors’ try-line but Kolbe brings him to ground with a text-book tackle!
40 Coleman gets the second half started with a hanging kick which Minnie knocks on. This puts WP on the attack inside the home side’s 22.
40 Golden Lions 10 Western Province 25
40 Boshoff gathers a kick from Gerhard van den Heever, close to the halfway line and when the hooter sounds, to indicate half-time, he kicks the ball into the crowd. That’s the end of the first half and what an entertaining 40 minutes it’s been! The visitors have come to play and surprised the Lions with their willingness to run the ball from all areas. The Lions came back strongly with that try from Helberg but they will have to improve considerably if they want to break their opponents’ strangle-hold of this match.
39 PENALTY, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN. 10-25. Coleman makes no mistake from the kicking tee after Des Fountain is pinned for a ruck infringement.
38 WP are showing great continuity and take the ball through several phases until they are camped inside the hosts’ 22. De Allende, Liebenberg and Pat Cilliers all carry strongly.
36 CONVERSION, GOLDEN LIONS, BOSHOFF! 10-22. Boshoff adds the extras, from close to the touchline, to narrow the gap to 12 points!
35 TRY, GOLDEN LIONS, HELBERG! WP do well to stop Britz in his tracks, on the try-line, but the Lions manage to get quick ruck ball to their backs where Deon Helberg runs onto a pass from Jantjies and gets in at the right-hand corner!
32 WP’s forwards do well to control a line-out ball on the edge of their try-line. The ball is recycled and comes back to Coleman, who boots it upfield.
30 CONVERSION, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN! 3-22. Coleman steps up and calmly slots another two-pointer!
29 TRY, WESTERN PROVINCE, LIEBENBERG! 3-20. WP attack from the scrum and Nizaam Carr and Michael Rhodes first set up a couple of phases before Groom fires out a pass to Tiaan Liebenberg who crashes over from close quarters!
27 CJ van der Linde is penalised for illegal scrummaging, just inside his half. WP captain Deon Fourie instructs Coleman to kick for touch and he puts the ball out on the Lions’ 22-metre line.
25 PENALTY, GOLDEN LIONS, BOSHOFF. 3-15. Boshoff opens the Lions’ account, from the kicking tee, after Groom is penalised for straying offside close to his try-line.
23 Steven Kitshoff is pinned for going off his feet at a ruck inside his own 22. Jantjies opts to kick for touch and puts the ball out on WP’s five-metre line.
20 Anthony Volmink gathers the ball 10 metres inside his half and goes onto the attack. He offloads to Minnie, who passes to Dylan des Fountain. He throws a wild pass back inside to Minnie who knocks on again.
18 The Lions launch an attack five metres inside WP’s half but Minnie knocks on a pass from Jantjies. The home side are battling to get their attacking game going here.
16 PENALTY, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN! 0-15. Coleman extends the visitors’ lead after Britz and Derrick Minnie are penalised for being offside at a ruck.
12 CONVERSION, WESTERN PROVINCE, COLEMAN! 0-12. Kurt Coleman holds his nerve and adds the extras from up against the touchline!
11 TRY, WESTERN PROVINCE, KOLBE! 0-10. Cheslin Kolbe gathers a loose pass inside his half and sets off on a run! He is tackled by two defenders and releases the ball before regathering in a flash. Referee Jaco Peyper allows play to continue and the left win sets off towards the left-hand corner where he touches down. What a try!
8 The Lions try to attack from a line-out 10 metres inside WP’s half but Elstadt does well to put pressure on Britz and the second rower knocks on.
6 TRY, WESTERN PROVINCE, DE ALLENDE! 0-5. WP are rewarded for showing their attacking intent when De Allende runs onto a pass from Nic Groom and barges through two tackles before scoring the game’s opening points! Coleman misses the conversion.
4 Willie Britz takes the ball into contact but is knocked backwards in the tackle by Rynardt Elstadt and Damian de Allende. WP win a turnover and attack inside the Lions’ 22. Juan de Jongh and Aplon both win some metres until De Allende finds himself in space down the left-hand touchline. He goes over the Lions’ try-line but puts a foot into touch!
1 And we’re off! Elton Jantjies gets the game underway with a deep kick which Gio Aplon gathers inside his 22. He immediately kicks for touch and puts the ball out midway between the halfway line and the Lions’ 22-metre line.
0 Elton Jantjies will face his Stormers team-mates after being restored to the Lions starting XV. Jantjies’ inclusion is part of a handful of changes from Lions coach Johan Ackermann. Chris van Zyl is ruled out by injury and as a result number eight Willie Britz moves into the second row with Lambert Groenewald taking his place at the back of the scrum. Elsewhere in the loose trio, Warwick Tecklenburg is preferred to Jaco Kriel who drops to the bench. Full-back Chrysander Botha is another injury casualty, with Marnitz Boshoff switching to the number 15 jersey, with Jantjies slotting in at fly-half in his absence. The only other change to the starting line-up is in the front row where CJ van der Linde replaces Jacques van Rooyen.
0 Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made two changes to his starting XV for this encounter. Nic Groom replaces Louis Schreuder and will make his first start of the season at scrum-half, with the latter dropping to the bench. And up front, Springbok Tiaan Liebenberg swaps with Scarra Ntubeni at hooker, the former also set to make his first run-on appearance in 2013.
0 Hello and welcome to Ellis Park in Johannesburg for this Currie Cup encounter between our hosts, the Golden Lions, and the tournament’s defending champions, Western Province. Both sides head into this game full of confidence. The Lions claimed a shock 62-23 win over the Bulls last weekend and WP moved to the top of the table after a narrow 20-19 triumph over Griquas. Don’t go away! We’ll be back shortly with team news.